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An expansion of the Panama Canal is currently being planned. Construction will widen and deepen the locks and will allow the canal to operate more efficiently, using 7 percent less water.
Presently, the locks fill with fresh water raising ships above sea level, allowing them to sail across the Canal. Every time a ship passes through a lock, approximately 55 million gallons of fresh water drains into the sea.
The Panama Canal is a 50-mile-long (80.5-kilometer-long) structure that allows ships to cross between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans by cutting through the Isthmus of Panama, as seen in the map above.
Although the new locks in the expanded canal will be deeper and wider, officials say they will use 7 percent less water and will keep water in the canal using a series of specially designed basins.
(news.nationalgeographic)
References: news.nationalgeographic,
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